


Echoes of a Broken Wheel

by Guardinthena



Series: Transformers: Resurgence [5]
Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers Generation One
Genre: Drama, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kronosphere, M/M, Multi, Mystery, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23663959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardinthena/pseuds/Guardinthena
Summary: Having been rescued from Cybertron's Golden Age, the Aerialbot Slingshot obstinately insists he has seen Phage in the past, an impossibility given her termination years prior, and sets out to prove himself right despite all naysayers. As Optimus Prime tries to compartmentalize his grief at her repeated mention he has to uncover what Megatron is seeking in Cybertron's past and why. All in all, its just another day at The Ark.
Relationships: Ariel/Megatron (Transformers), Megatron (Transformers)/Original Female Character(s), Megatron/Optimus Prime, Megatron/Orion Pax, Optimus Prime/Ariel, Optimus Prime/OC, Optimus Prime/Original Female Character(s), Optimus Prime/Phage
Series: Transformers: Resurgence [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881652
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Authors Note: This story takes place years after Resonance. (And some other fanfics inbetween I haven't written yet-sorry everyone! This plot-bunny would not leave me alone!) In terms of the Transformers G1 cartoon universe that I pull heavily from this story arc takes place immediately after the episode: War Dawn with creative edits to the material. Some quick notes to add here is that in the original creation of the episode, the canon character Ariel was suppose to be an entirely separate entity from Elita-One. The writers wanted the episode to carry heavier tones of the cost of war with Orion Pax loosing his best friend Dion and girlfriend Ariel, but someone commented about how closely she resembled Elita-One and so they changed the writing to reflect that Ariel was reforged into Elita-One. I myself prefer the original concept for the character. This preference is reflected in the ongoing AU I am establishing. Another little change made from the cartoon is that it was Ratchet working at the clinic instead of Alpha Trion. This is a personal change that I felt made more sense. Also, for hard core TF fans of the old G1 cartoon, yes, the first part of this fanfic takes directly from the ending of War Dawn creative embellishment.
> 
> Vorner- Cybertronian who is less than one Cybertronian year old. One Vorn=75 Earth years. Denotes youth and inexperience. A child/teen/young adult in Cybertronian culture. Definition of which is interchangeable with the before mentioned depending on its usage in conversations. Can be used enduringly or as an insult to point out lack of experience.

_**Location: Cybertron, Ruins of Iacon** _

_**Time: Present** _

"Tell me I wasn't the only one who saw-!"

Slingshot's hushed desperate inquiry to his Aerialbot brothers Fireflight and Skydive went unanswered when Wheeljack burst in amidst the crowded Aerialbots announcing with a crow, "Spill it!"

None of the Autobot flyers would ever admit that his sudden appearance sent them scattering like startled Earth birds but his abrupt entrance did exactly that. Blusterous and in rare good spirits from their recent victory against the Decepticons, Wheeljack captured two of the much taller Aerialbots before they could take flight and land a short distance off. The inventor's surprisingly strong arms roped around Slingshot and Fireflight's necks and locked them to his sides, where the two red and white Aerialbots were forced to bend at awkward angles to Wheeljack's much smaller height.

"Where did the Decepticon Kronosphere send you lot? From what I could gauge it looked like they modified the standard space bridge functions to pinpoint periods in time itself! So-what happened to you guys in the past? Where'd you go? What'd you do?" Wheeljack leaned in close to both 'bots, optical ridges waggling suggestively and whispered conspiratorially. " _Who'd_ you do?"

"Get off me!" Hissed Slingshot, yellow visor flashing angrily, but his struggle to break from Wheeljack's headlock was in vain.

Not hearing the last of Wheeljack's questions, Silverbolt replied elusively to the first two. "Oh, not much." A hint of a smile twisted the corner of his mouth. The Aerialbot team leader waited for Wheeljack to drag his brothers toward his position where Wheeljack's surprise attack had sent him gliding ahead of the group. Silverbolt began backpedaling with his long graceful legs before turning to walk alongside the collective group of Autobot veterans and Aerialbots once again. "We learned a few things about Megatron...and you-Optimus Prime. Or-um, should I say Orion Pax."

Uttering Prime's old designation had an effect on the veteran Autobots Silverbolt did not expect. Ironhide, Wheeljack and Ratchet all abruptly halted and fixed unrelenting, disbelieving optics on him. Wheeljack's arms loosened around Slingshot and Fireflight enough that they took the opening to slip away from his grip. Prime himself, who was at the head of the group forging a path through Cybertron's war torn landscape as they made their way to an extraction point came to an abrupt halt. His cranium whipped around and fixed his wide, round optics on the beaming Aerialbots long and hard. Under Prime's unyielding gaze the Aerialbot's smiles quickly and uncertainly ran off their faces.

Finally, Prime's gaze drifted down and to the right. A brief reflective glimmer shown in his liberty blue optics before they snapped back to the Aerialbots with laser focus.

"You." Optimus Prime finally uttered, his vocal processor betraying his rare bout of surprise. He lifted his off servo from the barrel of the rifle and gestured at the Aerialbots. "So you five were the ones who saved me."

"What?" Was Ratchet's elegant reply as Ironhide, Wheeljack and the white and red medical officer exchanged perplexed expressions.

Relief flooded Silverbolt's systems that he had not stepped on some ancient unknown Cybertronian custom he was as-of-yet unaware of. The young Aerialbot team leader grinned and preened but before any of the Aerialbots could comment Ratchet cut in moodily. "Will somebody please tell me what in blazes this is all about."

Grinning cheekily, Silverbolt fixed his servos on his hip plates and gave a careless shrug. "Ask Optimus Prime." Behind him Fireflight and Air Raid were trying not to outright laugh. Motioning at nothing, Silverbolt flicked his servo through the air. "He knows."

"Alright-spill it before I go crazy!"

"Oh man!" Cackled Skydive, elbowing a disgruntled Slingshot. "We finally know something Ratchet doesn't!"

The white medical officer glowered balefully at the Aerialbots.

"Who want's to give Ratchet the exposition?" Crooned the black, red, and white Skydive.

"Well," Optimus began suddenly with a click of his glossa and a long light-hearted sigh. "It all began about nine million years ago."

An immediate burst of jovial laughter erupted from four of the Aerialbots who were all too pleased that Optimus Prime had decided to join in on their poke at Ratchet. A soft warm glow shone from the rare crinkle in Prime's optics, a surefire telltale of the soft smile hidden behind the battle mask as he basked in the equally sparse merriment infused into his Autobots.

Ratchet flung his cranium backwards and groaned in mock-irritably. "Oh great. It's going to be one of those _long_ stories."

That the crotchety Ratchet had carried along with the jab in good humor had the vorners rolling even harder than before.

Every Aerialbot but Slingshot, Optimus Prime noted. His attention zeroed in on the Aerialbot straight away. Slingshot was slinking in the back of the group. His yellow visor was dull and was gnawing on his bottom lip. The vorner kept glancing over his shoulder strut to the ruin of the Decepticon Kronosphere and the broken building that had housed it.

Optimus was just formulating a plan to lead the group ahead again and give the lead over to Ironhide, making some excuse for himself to cover the rear. He could slow his own gait to discreetly drop to the back of the group to inquire after what was troubling Slingshot-

"Okay, whoa wait!"

-Unless the passionate mech burst on his own.

Abrupt and brash and tired of being ignored by his brethren, Slingshot shoved his way to the head of the Autobot group cutting a wedge between Silverbolt and Prime. Mouth pressed into a tight frown, he looked between his trine brothers and splayed his arms wide to either side. "Did _nobody_ but _me_ see her? _Really_?!"

One of Ratchet's optical ridges promptly arched high on his forehead. "Let me guess, you 'Bots got to see the Spires of Iacon _and_ your first Cybertronian femme?"

"Yes!" Slingshot said hastily. "No!" He quickly corrected with a curt shake of his cranium. "I mean, ugh!" Growled Slingshot in frustration. He whipped around on his trine brothers and implored each desperately, his attention landing lastly on Silverbolt. "You saw her right?!"

"Saw _who_ , Slingshot?" Asked Silverbolt innocently and patiently with an apologetic shrug of his shoulder struts. "Are you talking about Ariel? We all saw her. Orion introduced us, remem-"

Slingshot's engine revved in frustration cutting Silverbolt off mid-sentence. He ran his servos up his face and under his visor to squeeze his optics.

"Phage!" Slingshot cried desperately. "I saw Phage! She was there! At the docks right before we blew up the supply depot!"

An icy blast suddenly infused the atmosphere around the group without a wind every tumbling through the ruins. It brought with it a silence as deafening as the vacuum of space that sucked the mirth from each Autobot simultaneously. Slingshot nearly regretted his words as he watched helplessly as the rare bit of joviality melted from Prime's optics.

Ironhide's engine revved angrily. "You have some nerve, Slingshot." Snarled the red Ironhide. He seized Slingshot's shoulder strut and whipped him around, yanking him down to the grounder's level for face-to-face. "Did you think that was suppose to be funny?" Bit Ironhide in a harsh whisper.

"What? I-No! I-"

"Let him go, Ironhide." Intoned Prime solemnly, his trademark baritone vocals steeped in weary edges. It was such a noticeable change from his tone before that it gouged at Slingshot's conscious. Ironhide obeyed his Prime but for all his gruff and die hard loyalty to his Prime he shoved Slingshot back. The Aerialbot was forced a few steps back by the momentum straight into the heart of his Aerialbot brothers. He did not miss how they avoided physical contact with him as he stumbled before catching his balance.

"Seriously." Popped off Air Raid from beside him in a harsh whisper. "What is your malfunction. You ruin everything!"

Denta flashing in a snarl, Slingshot whirled and shoved Air Raid aside. "I know what I saw!" Slingshot shouted angrily and rounded on Optimus Prime. He had but one singular goal in mind, that Optimus had to believe him and beseeched passionately, "I saw her, Optimus! I swear on my spark it was her! We made optic contact just as we were transported back! We have to go back and get her!"

Immediately several Autobots tried to talk at once. Wheeljack scoffed and commented it was not possible to 'go back' while Air Raid jabbed back that the only femme they had seen was Ariel. In the rising rabble, Ratchet's gruff bark rose above the others.

"Slingshot!" Growled Ratchet lowly, his mouth curling at the corner in a disapproving sneer. "You _know_ Phage terminated years ago."

"In a space bridge incident-I know! _Everyone_ knows!" Slingshot bit back. "I'm not a drone! But I saw her! I swear! She was just-" and he gesticulated frantically back towards the ruined remains of the supply depot that his Aerialbot brethren and he had blown up nine million years ago to prevent the energon stored within from falling in Decepticon hands. "Right. There!" Slingshot felt heat rise up in his face when several optics drifted back towards the ruined site. "Not now!" He was quick to elaborate. "Then! Back _then_! In Cybertron's past! In the Golden Age! I saw her! Optimus...You have to believe me!"

Frustratingly for Slinghsot, Optimus Prime's face was a mask of neutrality and his tone when he spoke was kind, open to possibility but skeptical nonetheless. It was that hint of skepticism that Slingshot latched onto and that boiled his circuits.

"I would like to believe you Slingshot, but such a course of action would be an old fool's hope to leap at the notion that you actually saw Phage. A likely explanation would be that you saw someone who looked like her. Given-"

Slingshot shook his cranium adamantly in the negative and rudely interrupted before Optimus could finish. "I swear it was her!"

"Enough, kid." Wheeljack bit, elbowing the much taller Aerialbot in his side.

Slingshot shot Wheeljack a dirty glare and rubbed at his side as he stepped out of the tricolored Autobot's reach. "It was _her_!" He pressured challenging each Autobot to contradict him with a glare before turning his attention back to Prime. "I would recognize her omni-hair anywhere! Even if she wore it in a ponytail!"

"Ponytail?" Echoed Ratchet quietly to himself, optical ridge lifting curiously.

"She was damaged, Optimus! You have to believe me! We have to go back!" Slingshot's conviction faltered, his face crumpling as he shot a glance back over to the ruins of the decrepit warehouse and the Kronosphere that had exploded in the struggle between the Autobots and Decepticons over the device. "Somehow." He said lamely.

Optimus, for his due credit, had listened patiently to Slingshot's narrative. Over the course his optics had steadily crumpled into an attentive frown. A look that made Slingshot hopeful, because he knew he had Prime's attention. The Aerialbot carried on animatedly and hopeful, gesticulating frantically at his chassis. "A huge portion of her chassis was blown off and she was leaking fluids everywhere! She had staggered around a corner-"

Abruptly, Ratchet popped off and said flatly, "What color was her armor."

The inquiry took Slingshot by surprise. More so because Ratchet the Skeptic had the same concentrated look as Prime. "Uh...pink, but-"

Ratchet's optics jumped in their sockets, side eyeing Prime before the medical officer clipped brusquely. "Phage's armor was teal. Now if this discussion is over-"

"It was her face!" Slingshot deflated but looked desperately around at everyone. "It was! And-and the area that was damaged there was splotches of green. I'm certain!"

"And you saw that under all the fluids and energon." Clipped Ratchet deadpan. "In the brief seconds you had before you five were ripped back through time."

"I..." Slingshot's conviction faltered and his cranium drooped forward. "I swear it was her."

"Slingshot." Optimus's signature soothing baritone was mired with weariness and old loss. "I was going to say before you interrupted, that given your location and your description of pink armor, Phage's likeliness, and the Earth term of a ponytail to describe the helmet design... I believe it would have had to have been Ariel."

Ratchet stiffened and readily interjected. "That can't be, Prime. Megatron murdered Ariel-"

Optimus's sharp attention jumped to Ratchet, his whole demeanor switching from a counseling elder to an equally grumpy peer.

"I remember clearly, Ratchet." Snipped Prime. "Who else could it have been? Slingshot's account of the damaged chassis could only mean he had seen Ariel after the attack."

"Primus." Was all Ratchet could think to say for several long nanoklicks while the long low burning weight of Optimus Prime's gaze laid heavily on him. It was at length that he murmured, "We never did find her frame...But that means that the initial shot didn't terminate her. She must have fallen into stasis and reactivated shortly after, and wandered off...Primus." Ratchet's bright optics found Prime's. "I'm so sorry this came up."

Listless, Prime's optics shifted off of Ratchet and fell back over the Aerialbots. Once again Optimus's exposed facial features shifted back into the neutral that had become his resting face since the years following Phage's termination. Prime managed to say cordially. "I believe I introduced Ariel to you."

"Um, yes sir." Said Silverbolt at long last, choosing to speak for his wing brothers when none of them were directly addressed. "As uh, well that is to say you were specific she was your girl."

Wheeljack tried to cover a laugh as a clogged air intake.

"Did I?" Mused Optimus quietly, chuckling lightly. "I suppose I must have."

"She knew my name." Slingshot said suddenly.

"Slingshot." Hissed Sliverbolt, shooting his Aerialbot brother a withering glare at the same moment that Slingshot was elbowed by Air Raid. A little glowering spat ensued between the Aerialbots before they swiftly calmed under the collective disapproving glare of Silverbolt, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Optimus Prime's unnervingly calm, observant gaze.

"Stow it, poster boy." Slingshot grumbled and snapped bitterly. "I know what I saw!"

Several voices rose up to shut him down-Silverbolt, Ratchet, Ironhide-and Slingshot exploded, shouting above everyone to get his words out.

"Hear me out! We introduced ourselves to Orion, you sir, but you didn't give our names out to Ariel or Dion before we were interrupted. Orion-you, we never gave our names out." Slingshot repeated desperately. "When she-Phage-err, Ariel came around the corner she said my name. She was desperate."

"I'd be desperate too if I had a gaping hole in my chassis." Murmured Ironhide sidelong to Ratchet who promptly tried to elbow him.

"She started toward us and I tried to wave her off. And then the bombs went off and we were torn back through time-"

"Slingshot." Silverbolt finally manage to cut into his trine brothers' rushed and somewhat disjointed narrative and said wearily, "We must have given our designations out and you don't remember. Maybe some kind of time-jetlag?"

"There's no such thing as time-jetlag." Spat Slingshot derisively.

"How would you know." Air Raid cut in. "You're no quantum engineer."

"Neither are you!"

"Well, it hasn't been documented." Offered Skydive. "So, who knows if it is or isn't."

"Will you quit taking his side on everything!"

As the Aerialbots broke down into in-fighting, Silverbolt tried to salvage the situation by saying there was no other way Ariel could know their designations, only his words were drowned as the argument grew heated. Wheeljack joined in by shoving Slingshot and making a comment about how he had repaired the Decepticon Kronosphere and that it was nothing sort of a glorified modified space bridge and that time jetlag was a thing, and Slingshot being Slingshot challenged his experience with the matter, which brought down Ratchet and Ironhide's wrath, and everything else began to fall apart.

Silverbolt twisted at the waist to address Optimus Prime. As ever the Prime was a quiet rock in the eye of the storm. There was a hard edge in Prime's optics hidden under the long shadows cast by the rim of his helm. Silverbolt splayed his servos out helplessly. "What do I do?!"

The laser precise attention of Optimus Prime's pinpoint liberty blue optics jumped to Silverbolt and suddenly, for a nanoklik, Silverbolt had the oddest sensation that he shouldn't have asked for assistance but been the team leader he was suppose to be and find the solution himself.

"ENOUGH!"

Optimus's baritone vocals carried long and far over the desolate landscape of Cybertron. All quieted. All shades of varying blue optics locked on Prime with measuring degrees of attention to shock. In the distance Optimus detected a piece of ruin come loose and skip several times before settling.

"I'm sorry, Optimus." Slingshot mumbled sheepishly, and Optimus could not miss the degree of vorner fear that was mixed in his vocal patterns. "I-she...she looked like Phage."

Optimus's features settled once more into a solemn gaze. "It is not that Ariel looked like Phage, Slingshot, but that Phage looked like Ariel. It has always been this way. It might seem backwards to you since you knew Phage first but Ariel lived nine million years ago. It was never the other way around."

For once, the tenacious Slingshot was quiet, finally digesting the information given from the opposite viewpoint. For a long time the vorner was uncertain whether to look at Prime or the floor. At long last he said softly, "Is...is that why you liked Phage? Because she looked like Ariel?"

Optimus Prime's optics grew heavy.

The elder Cybertronians Ironhide, Wheeljack and Ratchet stiffened, or sneered or scoffed.

"Too personal." Gruffed Ironhide, knocking Slingshot's wing with his shoulder strut.

"Why?" Slingshot shot back. "Humans are open about these things."

"Humans." Grumbled Ironhide. "It's all manner of rude to be asking a 'Bot after these things."

"But-"

Optimus's servo rose open palm in a signal of peace. The motion drew in every Autobot's attention to him. "It is alright, Ironhide." Optimus said firmly, managing a gentle tone. "It is true, Slingshot. Phage's face and mannerisms were akin to Ariel's. But you must always remember the universe is diverse and complex. When you live as long as I have, or Ratchet or Ironhide or Wheeljack, you will start to note repetitive patterns that arise."

"Like with Phage looking like Ariel." Supplied Silverbolt softly.

With a stately air, Optimus Prime nodded once.

Slingshot glanced from Prime to Silverbolt. "But...their faces. They were identical."

"Yes, I had noticed that when we met her, Slingshot." Sighed Silverbolt. "But how many humans have we seen when we travel that look like Spike?"

The argumentative Aerialbot's face lit with mute embarrassment. "A few actually." He admitted begrudgingly.

Silverbolt shrugged. "That is what Prime is getting at."

"Thank you, Silverbolt." Said Prime solemnly.

"So drop it." Rumbled Ironhide.

"Ironhide." Sighed Prime heavily in a gentle reprimand. In the brief lull that followed, Optimus turned aside from the squabble to take point on the long trek to their extraction point. "I believe it is long past time we departed." Optimus announced firmly and transformed to his alt mode. "Autobots, roll out!"

Silverbolt and Ironhide were immediate to follow pursuit and transform. Following Silverbolt's example the rest of the Aerialbots were quick to follow suit.

"Way to go, knucklehead." Hissed Air Raid. "I haven't seen Prime smile in years and you go and do that!"

Slingshot refused to meet his brother's gaze, instead searching the floor for answers. With a huff, Air Raid transformed and blasted off.

Slingshot refused to budge. The Aerialbot stood rooted to Cybertron's surface as if his pedes had rusted to the spot. Doubt plagued his every move and thought. His attention snapped up when he heard the veterans transforming to follow Prime.

"Wait." Slingshot said suddenly.

Only Ratchet and Wheeljack stopped. Ironhide showed little interest in continuing the conversation and sped up to catch up to Prime's receding form.

"Not another word." Warned Wheeljack, side panels flashing an irate pink.

"Ratchet." Slingshot tried, his cranium shooting up.

"Yes, Slingshot?"

The mech struggled for words and found himself just relating events. "The Decepticon's weirdo space bridge is-was, a time machine. We got transported back to the Golden Age, right before Megatron and the Decepticons attacked Iacon."

"The First Seige of Iacon?" Said Wheeljack, cranium panels flashing a bright blue in surprise. Perhaps more surprisingly to Slingshot, the irritable inventor softened up to him. "Primus, you 'bots got caught up in that?"

"Briefly." Slingshot muttered then added hastily. "For a day. But," Slingshot hastened to add before either veteran could impose what was an inevitable barrage of questions. "We met Optimus before he was Prime."

"Orion Pax." Ratchet said solemnly.

"Yeah." Slingshot nodded vigorously. "We arrived too late to stop Megatron and those damn 'Cons from shooting up the place and killin' Dion and Ariel and nearly Orion."

Wheeljack glanced askance to Ratchet who only nodded and said simply, expression tightly neutral, "I know the day."

"How did you even save Prime?" Wheeljack had to ask.

"We took Orion to Ratchet's repair shop."

Surprise shot through Ratchet's face. "Mine?"

"Yes. We delivered Orion straight into your arms."

"Pitts. That was you lot wasn't it?" The medic took a moment to process the revelation, reviewing past memories. His expression was so similar to Optimus's it would have been funny to Slingshot if the situation that bothered him wasn't prevalent on his thoughts. "Now I get why Optimus was so surprised." Ratchet murmured.

Wheeljack made an odd noise somewhere between a snort of shock and a clogging air intake. "You ran a clinic in Iacons slums? You?"

"Someone had too." Ratchet shot back. "And who better qualified than Oscillate's pupil."

Recognizing a loosing battle Wheeljack spun his attention around on Slingshot. "Why the slag did it take five Aerialbots to carry one 'bot? Was Optimus a heavy aft then too?"

"What?" Slingshot gaped. "No, he...he was actually about as tall as you."

"Then why the Pitt did you grab just Optimus?"

"Orion." Ratchet corrected then added swiftly, "Will you shut up."

"No, Wheeljack's right." Slingshot murmured. "We-I don't know. We assumed that Dion and Ariel were dead. Orion was still functioning when we got there."

"What exactly are you trying to get at, Slingshot?"

He struggled for awhile longer before looking to Ratchet beseechingly. "Did we kill her?"

"Oh." Immediate realization washed over Ratchet and Wheeljack's faces. "Oh, no, Slingshot."

"If we had just grabbed Dion and Ariel and brought them to your clinic too, then Ariel wouldn't have awoken out of stasis like you said and wandered off. She wouldn't have been at the inland storage yard before we blew it up-"

"Slingshot-" Ratchet began.

"It is your fault." Wheeljack interjected. "There. Does that make you feel better? Does it? No? Good. Now own that." Grit the mech. "And learn from it."

"Wheeljack!" Hissed Ratchet.

"Save if for someone else." Wheeljack growled back. "How often have you had 'bots come into your medbay from friendly fire? You own up and get better. You don't make the same mistake again."

"What were we suppose to do?"

"Bring them to Ratchet." Wheeljack shot off.

"Absolutely not." Ratchet bit back. "You comm. for medical and wait. Follow necessary procedures if you have too. For Primus's sake, I about blew a gasket when they walked in with Orion. In his condition they could have made things worse hauling him around like that."

"Why didn't you send anyone out to grab them?" Wheeljack inquired, turning his bite and ire on Ratchet. "Don't tell me the fly-bots didn't even tell you about the others!"

"Of course we did!" Slingshot shot off.

"Of course I did!" Ratchet snapped back, engine revving angrily. "Do you have any idea how many poured in through my clinic during the Siege? Pitt, Wheeljack. You fragging senseless aft. I couldn't spare a moment to leave the area but I sent some assistants out to retrieve their frames."

"Because you didn't believe some fly-bots telling you some 'bots were terminated." Said Wheeljack snidely.

"Of course I don't believe any third party telling me my business! It's my job to pronounce if a 'bot is terminated or locked in stasis." Snapped Ratchet.

Slingshot had to suppress an exasperated sigh. "And?" He pressured.

"And what?" Ratchet snapped at Slingshot. "They came back with Dion's frame. They couldn't find any sign of a pink femme. They took damage in the process, working their way through an active warzone."

"No I meant..." Slingshot tried again, "I meant is that normal?"

Weariness strained Ratchet's features. "Is what normal?"

"Someone surviving a close quarters blast from Megatron's cannon?"

"I imagine the chances would be astronomical."

"Unless your Brawn." Wheeljack threw in suddenly, optics sliding between the two. "He's an outlier ya know, kid. Just a little ol' passive ability that makes his armor tough as all get out. Or your names are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe with their stupid twan sparks. Not outliers but might as well be. Can't keep one down without the other. Or if your name was Phage." And Wheeljack's optics narrowed intently. "Regeneration and phasing-she could have lived through that."

"Don't you have some place to be." Snapped Ratchet.

"We all have some place to be getting, Sunshine." Wheeljack countered and jerked his cranium in the direction Optimus and the others had went. "How long do you think it'll be before Boss Bot starts comming."

"Get rolling then and out of my sight." Grumbled Ratchet.

"And leave you two here for when the 'Cons circle back around?"

"Primus." Ratchet vented nosily through his systems. "You are a pain in my aft."

"Well, if you let me."

Ratchet's cheeks lit up with the kind of angry blue Slingshot was use to seeing when Sunstreaker and Sideswipe pissed him off. "There aren't any 'Cons around!" Ratchet shouted. "My sensors would have detected them by now!"

"Seekers are fast." Wheeljack countered calmly, "And can be on your position faster than you realize."

"I _know_ that!"

Wheeljack was about to come back with a jab when Ratchet shoved him and signaled for silence. The medical officer's attention had fallen on Slingshot, noting his downturned wingspan and downcast gaze. "Slingshot." Ratchet said sympathetically and touched his shoulder strut. "You didn't terminate Ariel, Slingshot. Megatron did." Ratchet reassured. "Never forgot that."

"How many 'Bots have you fed that lie too."

"Slingshot." Sighed Ratchet tiredly but firmly. The bot in question looked up and caught Ratchet's worried frown. Whatever Ratchet had been about to say he thought it over and said instead, "When we get back to the **_Ark_ **I want to see you in Medbay. I need to ask you some questions."

"About what?" Slingshot croaked in alarm.

"General health questions." Ratchet responded, optical ridges furrowing as he noted Slingshot checking for avenues of escape. "I need to see all of the Aerialbots actually. There's no telling what a trip through space time will wreck on your systems."

Slingshot bristled indignantly. "I'm functioning fine thank you."

"My concern was peaked at the mention of time-jetlag."

"Oh please." Wheeljack sighed with a roll of his optics. "It would have to be the same as jetlag from spacebridging."

Ratchet shot him a withering glare over his shoulder strut before turning back to Slingshot. "I expect to see you in my office first thing when we get back. I'll schedule additional appointments for your brothers."

"But-"

"I'm comming Prime now." Ratchet warned and proceeded to follow through the threat by doing just that.

_Scrap._

"There's nothing wrong."

"Slingshot."

"Nothing-Is-Wrong."

With acute attention, Ratchet's optics burrowed into him. "If nothing's wrong, then why don't we have an impromptu meeting now? Come on, walk with Wheeljack and me while we catch up to the rest."

Slingshot had the sudden notion that he would be walking into a trap and began eyeing the veterans wearily.

He had always been weary of them for a number of very valid reasons. The first and foremost was that he and his Aerialbot brethren had been constructed cold for the sole purpose to fight their war that he and his brethren had no history with. Who _did_ that? _What_ kind of people did that? And what kind of governing system _allowed_ that? Humans didn't do that.

Granted, newborn human babies were the most useless thing on Earth. Compared to newforged Cybertronians, where you could slap a gun in their servo and tell them where to point and fire, there was no competition on which was the superior species.

It was ludicrous. Insane, Slingshot would go so far as to say. And he had the Aerialbots had gone through it willingly from the start because they didn't know better.

He had always felt his belief to distrust and fight the Autobot elders on all matters on that very point. And couldn't wrap his processors around the fact that Silverbolt was so willing to submit to Optimus Prime's will like a loyal lap dog. And why? Because experience? That voice and aura he projected? The more they learned about their past, Slingshot felt all the honors were bullshit.

So, absolutely he felt he was walking into a trap. Correction, Slingshot reflected. He had put himself into the trap by opening his stupid mouth.

"But-but...Why are we doing this in front of Wheeljack!"

"Don't act dumb, kid. On call medical assistant when needed. You know that."

"Slingshot," Ratchet pried gently. "Are you having issues dealing with Phage's termination?"

_Yes._

"No." He said stubbornly.

"Slingshot."

He met Ratchet and Wheeljack's cool neutral expressions, alert and walled off, and it spooked Slingshot. Behind his elders optics were brain processes millions of years old. What kind of thought patterns filtered through that kind of perspective? Silverbolt revered them. Slingshot couldn't trust them but he _had_ to rely on them.

The Aerialbot set his jaw and shrugged flippantly. "Isn't everyone grieving in their own way."

"Certainly." Ratchet replied coolly. "But no one has stood in front of Optimus Prime himself and two other Autobot officers and insisted that they had a hallucination while under an intense combat situation."

Slingshot felt the inside of his mouth go dry. _Shit. Damn it._

"Slingshot."

Ratchet's voice was beginning to grate on his audios.

"I guess I saw Ariel, like you said." Slingshot was quick to snap off moodily.

"Slingshot. You said you saw omni hair and teal armor."

"I said pink armor with an underpaint of teal."

"Green, actually." Wheeljack threw in. "You said green."

"Whatever." Slingshot grumbled like an irate human teenager and tried to wave them off. Ratchet was quick to match pace and seized Slingshot's arm in a firm grip to keep him from flying away.

"If you thought you saw Phage you are going through grief, Slingshot. It is normal for mechs who are grieving to report seeing comrades that have passed. You said you saw Ariel from your peripheral and mistook her for Phage."

_Straight on, actually._

"Did I?" Slingshot rambled elusively.

With surprising speed for an old mech, Ratchet seized Slingshot again and forced the Aerialbot to halt. With a strength that Slingshot often forgot the medical officer hand, he physically handled the slimmer mech, whipping him around and forcing him to make optic contact with him.

"Slingshot, whatever you are going through is normal. Hallucinations, hearing voices, seeing things that aren't there, you aren't going crazy. It's part of a grieving processor. I can help, but I can't do anything until you talk to me."

"What?" Echoed Slingshot again, then huffed as he made a bumbling attempt to cover up. "Grieving? Why would I be grieving?"

Ratchet pulled a face, his mouth curling once more at the corner into an insulted frown and forced a long weary vent through his auxiliary air intakes. "Weren't all of the Aerialbots close to Phage?"

"She was closer to the others." Mumbled Slingshot. "Not me. I just happened to be around when they'd hang."

"Probably cause your an argumentative aft." Wheeljack spat.

"What's that say about you." Slingshot spat back.

"I'm a charming aft."

"Don't antagonize him, Wheeljack." Ratchet bit over his shoulder strut then refocused on the Aerialbot. "Slingshot, you share a gestalt consciousness with your brothers."

"Obviously." Slingshot bit back and knocked Ratchet's servos off of him. Ratchet willingly allowed him too and again they began to walk in the direction of the others. "And? What's that got to do with anything?"

"How are _they_ handling her termination?"

_Not well_ , Slingshot was loath to admit. Phage's untimely termination had hit each of them hard in their own ways.

Silverbolt had lost a confidant. With all of the Aerialbots being Earth born, they were more than a little lost in the two worlds the Aerialbots found themselves trapped between-Cybertronian/Autobot ideals and the freedom presented by American culture. Silverbolt often bounced around for guidance between Optimus Prime and the Witwicky's. Of the Witwicky family, Spike and Alicean had been the best for advice for the lost Aerialbots and in time both had become Silverbolt's confidants for his troubles-more so Alicean than Spike when Silverbolt had realized that she seemed to have more pull with Optimus than Spike did. He had seen her as a bridge connecting to the worlds, indeed that had been the career of her short lived life.

Slingshot could not say much for Air Raid. Air Raid was Air Raid, happy-go-lucky, always laughing and joking and seeking an excuse to simply have a good time. If he had to say that Phage's termination had affected him in any way it would have had to have been in that it had shaken Air Raid as it had all of them. A stark reminder that life was unpredictable, and even though they were vorner's, the angel of death did not care. Perhaps Air Raid had become more reckless at the start. Increasing risky aerial maneuvers against the Decepticon Seekers, or more drinking, but Slingshot couldn't really say. It was all just happy, laughing, partying Air Raid.

Skydive had difficulty remaining in **_The Ark_** 's archives for too long where before the bookworm would remain lounged cozily within it's confines reading on their near lost history for hours on end. Phage would sometimes be there with him. And if they weren't both lost in a love of literature than they were both expounding for hours on history. Skydive would have never admitted it to Phage, but he had a crush on the femme who never saw him for anything else other than a friend. When it had been amusing to do so, Air Raid and he use to poke fun at Skydive for his crush. And sometimes that needling came to involve Fireflight, because the mech fancied her too.

And of Fireflight, her termination had hit the mech pretty hard and had had an odd affect on the Aerialbot-he had become more cautious and attentive. His flying skills had actually improved since Phage's termination, and Slingshot knew it had to do with a few factors. The foremost being that she had been a vorner like them, and her sudden termination had shaken him to how sudden and unpredictable life was if he didn't pay attention. The second and largest impact was the subtle influence she had held sway over him. When the six of them would find each other on their down times in **_The Ark_** 's rec room, Fireflight would often try to steal her attention away from Skydive and engage her in another area she loved-travel. When she had been Alicean Witwicky, she had left the fight against the Decepticons to travel the length and breadth of Earth. Dreamy-opticed Fireflight was always trying to get Phage to spill the details on the places she had seen and been, stoking Fireflight's own passion for travel-which always led to Fireflight's horrible flying skills. The mech was always falling out of formation, too eager to explore the lands speeding by far below. It had progressed to such an extreme that Fireflight had actually gone missing in action during a scouting mission that had turned into a dogfight with the Decepticons-and that was a memory Slingshot did not want to revisit. Phage's termination had dampened Fireflight's interests and closed a doorway that aided in stoking his passion.

To Ratchet's inquiry Slingshot's mouth glitched and hung uncertain on how to respond on the split.

Reactions too plain to see, Ratchet made a face, merely nodded and pried softly. "If your brothers are grieving-"

"Its been years." Slingshot bit defensively. "That would be stupid."

"Some mechs grieve for vorns." Ratchet countered gently.

Slingshot glanced askance, his young processor trying to come to grips with who among the veterans had grieved that long or still was.

"Slingshot," Ratchet said again, "you may not feel like your grieving, but I think you and your brothers are. And if I had to make an educated guess, I would have to say that your team might be having problems overcoming the mental scarring when you form Superion. Am I correct, Slingshot?"

But the Aerialbot was tight-lipped and trudging begrudgingly along with the two grounders.

Ratchet glanced askance at Wheeljack and nodded sympathetically. "I'm actually ashamed I hadn't considered the affects a gestalt conscious could have on matters like this."

"It's not like there are examples before us." Slingshot remarked bitterly.

Wisely Ratchet nodded the remark off.

_"_ There's nothing to be ashamed of if you are grieving, but it's my professional opinion that you 'bots need help. I would like to see you and the Aerialbots in my office so I can properly diagnosis the extent."

_Damn it. Scrap. Shit. Fragging fuck._

Gritting his denta behind a frown as if he had tasted foul energon, Slingshot said stiffly, "Sure thing, Ratchet."

Across the telepathic bond he shared with his combiner brothers, Slingshot sent a long wailing forewarning and braced for the mental barrage of blame and groans. He did not have long to wait. The inevitable complaints came and when the telepathic storm died down Silverbolt's voice rang in his own cranium:

_::Why do you do these things? Do you need attention?!::_

_::Fuck you. It's not about attention.::_

_::Then why on Earth-::_

_::I know what I saw.::_

_::Yeah, at worse you saw Ariel. At best, you hallucinated.::_

_::I think I'd know a hallucination if I had one and I didn't. I saw Phage.::_

_::Right.:: Groaned Air Raid, intruding on their open telepathic sends. ::With Ariel's pink armor.::_

_::It. Was. Her.:: Slingshot's thoughts whipped back on his brother's as fast as laserfire. ::She had omni-hair! If I could prove it I would-I can't believe none of you saw her!: Oh! That's it! I'll share my memory with you!::_

_::And what would that prove?:: Silverbolt reasoned. ::You would be sharing a faulty memory with us.::_

_::It isn't faulty! If I could I would prove that it was her!::_

_::How?:: Silverbolt shot back with an exhausted sigh._

_::Well,:: supplied Skydive optimistically, ::If Slingshot is proposing that Ariel is Phage, or rather Phage is Ariel, or that Phage was there sporting a new paint job-::_

_::Get to the point, Skydive.:: Sighed Air Raid._

_::Then wouldn't you try and let someone know you were stuck in the past? Phage had intimate knowledge of events to come.::_

_::Who would believe her?:: Countered Silverbolt._

_::I would.:: Popped in Fireflight at long last._

_::I wouldn't.:: Silverbolt countered. ::If an Autobot came up to you right now and said they were from the future you'd believe them?::_

_::After what we went through, why not?:: Sent Fireflight._

_::And this is why I'm team leader.::_

_::I'm telling you it was her!::_

_::I can tell this is going to bother you for a long time.:: Silverbolt sighed at length. ::Look, Slingshot, how about we all take a visit to Jetfire and Perceptor after we've all been debriefed and checked up to Ratchet's content, so they can tell you why Phage can't be Ariel. Maybe then you can get this all out of your head.::_

* * *

_**Location: Command Center of The Ark, Oregon, USA, Earth** _

_**Time: One Megacycle later** _

"Optimus?"

At last registering the warm, modulated vocals of Prowl's vocal processor, Optimus Prime jerked his cranium off of the palm of his servo. He had been focused on Teletraan-One for hours, pouring through data and old reports that went back years.

"How long have you been there?" Optimus queried.

"Well," began Prowl circling around into Prime's focus, "long enough to have to say your designation three times." The white Autobot officer glanced sidelong at the reports that had consumed Prime's attention and remarked astutely, "Something's troubling you."

"Greatly."

"The Decepticons."

"Of course." Sighed Prime, leaning forward again in the chair at Teletraan's controls. His optics jumped from screen to screen, zipping over one electronic page after another. "Something isn't adding up, which means Megatron is up to something."

"Is this about the recent business with the Kronosphere."

"Yes."

"If I may be so bold as to ask what seems off perhaps I could add my input?"

Optimus was silent so long that Prowl was beginning to suspect he had become absorbed in the reports again. He began debating whether to gain Prime's attention again or dismiss himself when Optimus leaned back in the chair and said, "Answer me this Prowl, why would Megatron order the construction of the Kronosphere?"

"I am no theoretician, but my first logical thought would be to secure energon from the Golden Age. Cybertron had plenty for everyone then."

Clearly dissatisfied, Optimus's digits tapped the arm of the chair repeatedly. "Why?"

"Why?" Prowl echoed, confounded. "Whatever is wrong with that theory, sir?"

"Everything." Optimus's cranium turned against the chair and eyed Prowl wearily. "Why would Megatron harm his own war efforts by stealing energon that he would need then?"

Prowl gaped, facial twitches going off as his processor tried to grind out a logical answer. Finally, he could only say, "It's...not logical at all."

"Exactly." Prime agreed and refocused his attention on his reports of Decepticon sightings and activities over the years. Unfortunately it was far from the intel he was use to receiving during the height of the war when there was spy networks in place, a small army of skybots, and enough security and patrols to settle even Red Alert's paranoia. Decepticon sightings had become frustratingly few since Megatron had gained access to Phage's Waiting Room Project. Most if not all of Megatron's operations had moved off world and tracking the comings and going of personnel, energon, and resources had become a waking nightmare.

Optimus carefully steered his thoughts away from that road. Only pain and regret laid down there.

Tiredly, Prime pinched the bridge of his olfactory and commented to Prowl, "Wheeljack's reports insisted that the Kronosphere was achieved by modifying the basics of spacebridge technology. Honing it to focus on the _when_ rather than the _where_."

"I read his report. Undoubtedly some stroke of insight from Phage's research."

Behind the mask, a sour frown twisted its way from his mouth and shown in his optics. Some days he had to wonder if Prowl wasn't secretly a telepath.

Rather than allow the offhand comment to rile him, Optimus tried to redirect the conversation to what was at hand. "Wheeljack also discovered it had a recall function. The Kronosphere could summon whoever was sent through the gate back to the present."

"I read that detail. Unusually cautious of Decepticons."

"Not for Megatron." Optimus was quick to correct. "Not if he thought it could be used against him. Maybe he has a remote recall of some kind on hand?"

The corner of Prowl's mouth twitched, threatening a lopsided grin. "Worry of another of Starscream's take-overs?"

Optimus's only response was a disinterested rumble that came in company with the nervous tapping of his trigger digit on the arm of the chair continued. A noise that pervaded the sleepy command center and disrupted the quiet humming of Teletraan-One and **_The_ _Ark_** 's soothing droning.

"Do you think he's traveled back himself?"

The tapping ceased.

"No." Optimus had given plenty of thought to the matter in the last twenty four Earth hours. He shook his cranium in the negative. "I think the recall function might imply Megatron wasn't trying to disrupt the time flow. He is many things but he isn't stupid enough to risk tampering with his own timeline." Prowl's face grew more and more crumpled as Optimus went on. "If I had to hazard a guess, I believe he was undergoing observations."

"That is logical." Prowl offered, leaping at a rational course of action. "Many Decepticon activities begin with an observational period."

"So do ours."

"Then this, whatever it was or is, is just the beginning." Stated Prowl matter-of-factly. "Do you suppose the Kronosphere on Cybertron was a prototype?"

"Yes I do. And given it's success, perhaps to even more time-runs that we are as of yet unaware of, it is likely Megatron will sanction the construction of a second."

"But whatever for?"

"He's looking for something."

"In Cybertron's past? What?"

"I have no idea. I'm not sure what worries me more, Prowl. That I'm missing the larger piece of the puzzle or what Megatron is looking for."

"It has to be information." Prowl insisted, a sliver of him trying to ease his own rising fears and Prime's. "We've lost so much, Optimus. If the prototype Kronosphere had a recall, it has to be just that. Megatron must be trying to gather valuable information that we've lost."

"But _what_? Why? _**The Ark**_ archives hold a vast amount of Cybertronian knowledge. Why not invade **_the Ark_**? It would be so much simpler than building a time machine to circumvent me and risking irreparable damage to our timeline. Primus knows what kind of side affects we could end up dealing with because of its use."

"I...have no answer."

"Neither do I. And I've been pouring over the data since I returned from Cybertron." Gesturing irritably to the screens, Prime shook his cranium and sunk back into the chair and added, "What little intel we have." He tilted his cranium against the back of the chair and sighed heavily. "Whatever Megatron's seeking, its not contained within **_the_ _Ark_** , on Earth, or present day Cybertron."

"I guess that means we can rule out Cybertronium."

"Tch."

"Shall I double patrols, sir?"

"I think that's the best we can do for now. We need to find where the new Kronosphere is being constructed and for what purpose. It's paramount we nip this before it gets out of hand."


	2. All a Matter of Transwarp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you Nanachu for bookmarking and the two guests for leaving Kudos on this work! Little shows of appreciation bring a smile to this writer knowing that others are enjoying my works enough to want to rate it or save it for later.
> 
> Also, a point was brought up by Nanachu that I did not take in serious consideration before: 'Echoes of a Broken Wheel' is a sequel to 'Resonance'. Events mentioned in future chapters will be spoilers for 'Resonance'. I realize at this point in time I have not yet finished writing 'Resonance' but I have returned to the work to finish it. If you choose to read 'Echoes of a Broken Wheel' before 'Resonance', you have been warned.

**Location: Science Labs, _The Ark_ , Oregon, USA, Earth**

**Time: Present, one day after Aerialbot's Kronosphere retrieval**

The Aerialbots found themselves loitering around the Science Labs of the _Ark_ where, at their initial request, Jetfire and Perceptor had been kind enough to take a break from their research and developments to listen over the Aerialbot's harrowing jaunt through time and space. Throughout the narrative, Perceptor's unquenchable curiosity led him to drill the Aerialbots on what they had done and who they had met and how time travel had affected them. For their part, the Aerialbots recounted their journey dutifully to the finest detail, from Air Raid's suggestion of an aerial race through the many towering spires of Iacon, to a high-speed chase with law enforcement that their joy-flying led too, their inevitable chance encounter with Orion Pax, meeting with his best friend Dion and girlfriend Ariel, and the first hours of what would become known as the First Siege of Iacon.

"We were lucky to have Skydive with us." Silverbolt had said, smiling warmly at his brother. "If not for him I'm not sure when we would have pieced together _when_ we were. And his intimate study of the War helped us later when the Decepticon incursion occurred. With his foreknowledge we were able to outpace them and thwart one of their efforts at Iacon's docks."

For his part, Skyfive shuffled from pede to pede and humbly murmured a kind word for the mention.

"It's a good thing we managed to retrieve you!" Perceptor commented. "I don't want to contemplate what your continued interference in the war would have done to the timeline!"

"But we saved Optimus!" Air Raid interjected.

"So I've heard. Or seen. Or...or is that so I've experienced?" Fumbled Preceptor, glancing aside to Jetfire for help, but the larger mech only chuckled and shook his cranium.

Overall, it was Jetfire who asked the more important questions, such as how they felt seeing Iacon in its glory when the Spires still towered and the gold gilded roofs gleamed. Did they marvel? Did they cry for their lost heritage? Did it make them proud? Did they loose themselves in the sea of Cybertronian faces in Iacon's crowded streets? Did they finally feel that they at last belonged to their Cybertronian culture, rather than a lost generation bumbling between Earth's plethora of colorful cultures and the expectations of Cybertron's surviving elders. The Aerialbots were only too glad to fill in the details with resounding affirmations to all his inquires and emotions that they were still struggling to process through. And Jetfire, hearing all this, nodded sagely and smiled warmly.

When at long last the story drew to its inevitable close, Silverbolt concluded simply by saying, "-and that's the jist of everything."

The large imposing figure that was Jetfire had taken to leaning against a table during the narrative and sipped periodically at his glass of energon. For all the mech's great size it belied the metal of his nature, an intellectual first and foremost, a characteristic that was cemented by his pleasant face and his gentle measured voice.

The red and white mech had been about to sip from his glass when Silverbolt's tale came to a sudden halt. Rather awkwardly Jetfire pulled the glass back to respond straightaway and then went into a little panic as the energon sloshed precariously within its glass confines. Once the liquid had settled, and as he was spinning the glass over to inspect that not a drop had escaped, Jetfire said simply, "I see." Then added, "So you came to us to settle Slingshot's claim. I commend your curiosity and sense of logic, Silverbolt. It seems a, hmm..." His large red servo did little wheels in the air. " _Lacking_ quality of late."

"Well?" Silverbolt pressed, waving a servo between his brothers and the two scientists, Jetfire and Perceptor, the latter of whom stood close at hand listening with rapt attention and with such childlike enthusiasm that Silverbolt was beginning to worry that Perceptor's optics would burst.

"Well what?" Questioned Jetfire over the rim of his glass.

"Please explain the finer points of time travel and space bridge technology to my brother. Explain to him _why_ he couldn't have seen Phage in Cybertron's past so he can get over his issue."

A shared glance of amusement passed between Perceptor and Jetfire. The simple act left Silverbolt feeling that he had made a remark that had triggered an inside joke.

"Something wrong?" Pressed Silverbolt moodily.

"Well to start, I'm not a dedicated quantum physicist, not that I haven't studied the material mind you." Jetfire began around a smile. "Even if I was, I'm sure the finer details of quantum physics would bore you-it boils down to a lot of heavy mathematics and even more postulating."

"Nautica is studying the subject however." Perceptor chimed in with a brilliant smile. "She seems dedicated to picking up where Phage left off."

"Matrix help us all." Sighed Jetfire heavily. "As if the new groundbridges and Waiting Rooms weren't game-changing enough."

"Where is she then?" Inquired Fireflight, peeking around Silverbolt's tall, lithe frame.

"With Sea Spray on patrol, I believe." Replied Jetfire with a careless shrug. "She won't be back in the labs for some time."

"Then can you give us the broad view." Sighed Silverbolt wearily.

"Certainly, certainly. But as I was saying before-for my second point, I've read Wheeljack's report and he was convinced the Decepticon Kronoshpere-"

"Is that what they called it?" Pipped in Perceptor innocently and then shook his cranium at Jetfire's affirmative. " _Ugh!_ Chronosphere-where did the Decepticons come up with that name? Was it under the pretense that time is circular rather than linear, or were they implying the temporal curve in quantum physics?"

_:Gross.:_ Popped off Air Raid's Send across the Aerialbot's enclosed network. _:Inside jokes nerd's chuckle at.:_

_:Keep it to yourself.:_ Berated Silverbolt.

"Actually the machine was pretty ornate." Skydive was quick to supply to Percetor's inquisitiveness. "With floating circular platforms up to the main control device-"

Perceptor pulled a face. "What function did that serve?"

"Err..." Fumbled Skydive before answering with a raised inflection in his vocal processor. "Ssstaaairs."

"Primus..." Sighed Perceptor as he dragged his servo down his face. "That must be Starscream's work then. Oh, oh _no_." Suddenly, his face drew wane. "If it _is_ -Don't tell me they butchered the spelling too!"

"With a 'K'." Jetfire confirmed with the most mundane of tones.

At the information, Perceptor's face twisted up in to distaste. "It _must_ have been Starscream's invention after all! In all likelihood he probably thought it was _edgy_."

"Yes, well." Interrupted Jetfire in the politest of ways he could muster. "In Wheeljack's report he seemed convinced the Kronosphere was built based off of Spanner's space bridge technology."

"He said something about the Decepticons focused on the time portion of spacebridge technology rather than the where?" Silverbolt offered.

"That would be a gross oversimplification." Chirped Perceptor.

" _As such._ " Stressed Jetfire in a gambit to wrap up his original explanation. "I could not explain the premise of time travel _and_ spacebridge technology when really we would be discussing the same topic."

"Whatever." Grumbled Silverbolt, pinching the bridge of his olfactory and waving his other servo about before crossing his arms over his chassis. "Just explain to Slingshot why he couldn't have seen Phage."

Disgruntled, Slingshot glared moodily at his brother. "Why do you have to be such a negative Nancy all the time, huh Silverbolt." Sulked Slingshot.

Without missing a beat, Silverbolt fired back over his shoulder. "Maybe because somebody has to keep a level head in this group."

"Look." Jetfire interrupted before matters could get out of hand with the brothers. He pushed off the table and spread his arms wide. "It's not really my function to say-"

"Then don't." Shot off Slingshot.

The rude interruption earned the vorner the critical weight of Jetfire's gaze complete with one arched optical ridge. "Slingshot, from accounts of things I think you're dealing with some form of post traumatic shock."

"Why would I have ptsd?" Slingshot lashed out.

"Shock for one. Grief for another." Jetfire shrugged one large shoulder strut. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, Slingshot. We all-"

"I said _don't_." Slingshot snapped off. "I already got an audio full from Ratchet yesterday."

"All of us, actually." Complained Air Raid and turned a glowering glare upon his brother.

"Well he is the Chief Medical Officer." Jetfire said calmly. "He knows what he's talking about." Slingshot stiffened and frowned, resenting the statement to his core. Jetfire couldn't help but notice and offered up an immediate gentle inquiry. "Weren't all of you close to Phage before she terminated?"

"I-I-wasn't _close_ to her. I mean, Skydive and her could go on for hours about history alone."

"We did." Confirmed Skydive, his cranium drooping to his chassis.

"And she got on well with Fireflight too."

"Yeah."

By this point Jetfire was nodding along, mouth pressed together in a knowing way.

"And Silverbolt and her were always amiable."

Arms still crossed, Silverbolt ascended with a prompt nod and a careless flick of his digits.

"And Air Raid..." Slingshot and Air Raid glanced at each other. After a second that was threatening to lead into an awkward moment Air Raid supplied, "We were cool."

The dreaded steely-faced passive expression that all the elders gave settled over Jetfire.

"I think your avoiding the subject."

" _I'm_ not _avoiding_ -" blistered up Slingshot.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Jetfire interrupted, "but don't you combiners share a collective consciousness even out of your gestlat form? I only ask because if you're so adamant that it isn't _you_ with the issue-"

"This is way off topic and rather personal." Interjected Silverbolt firmly.

For all of Jetfire's intimidating size, towering well over the Aerialbots, the mech came off as a startled teddy bear at Silverbolt's interjection of _personal._ Of all Cybertronian's customs that the Aerialbots had picked up on in their twenty or so Earth years of life, they quickly found that dropping the 'p' bomb around the elders was an ever effective get-out-of-anything-card, and they played it often.

"My apologies. I was merely trying to help."

"We got enough from Ratchet already." Replied Silverbolt casually, eager to get the conversation back on path and away from any inquiries with his brothers, when Slingshot burst in once again.

"And who cares if I miss her, yeah?"

Silverbolt's full lips pulled into a tight grimace and ground his denta behind the frown. The get-out-of-anything card was only effective as the 'bot who could keep his mouth closed.

"Slingshot." Warned Silverbolt.

"No! Really! Why doesn't anyone else? She stood up for the Autobots since Reactivation, right? And she's stood up for us Aerialbots too! She would listen to me when I'd complain about-about how _unfair_ everything was. I mean, Prime essential creates us and we're just expected to fight his war..."

" _Slingshot_." Growled Silverbolt. _:Dangerous grounds.:_

At last, Slingshot seemed to register the passive, stony countenances of Jetfire and Perceptor and took a quick moment to compose himself.

_:Mind who you speak too.:_

Under Jetfire's cool optics, Slingshot changed tracks fast. "Phage fought for our rights against the humans, gained us the very lands around the mountain as our own sovereign state-helped us _live_ here on Earth. She was our central piece between us and the humans!"

"Spike is serving as our envoy now." Stated Perceptor cleanly, crisply, and so matter-of-factly.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Murmured Air Raid, immediately earning him an elbow to his midsection from Skydive. It set off a brotherly spat between the polar opposites in the backdrop of the Aerialbots group, starting with back and forth shoving and name calling firing over the Aerialbot's enclosed telepathic network. To Perceptor and Jetfire, it was silent shoving that went on while they discussed the topic at hand.

"That doesn't matter! Can you imagine what things would have been like if she hadn't been there? Do you think Spike or Matrix forbid- _Buster_ would have gone out of their way to fight for our right to own land on Earth or start the process for our rights on this planet? Alicean pushed Optimus to be public with the humans instead of going into hiding at Reactivation. That was Alicean's doing! Not Spike or Buster or Sparkplug or even Radar! That was our Alicean!"

Silverbolt whipped around suddenly on Skydive and Air Raid, his engine revving and face pulling in a irate frown. : _:Do I have to separate you two?:_

_:He started it!:_ Both 'bots shot off at once over their Send.

_:I don't care who started it! I'll finish it!:_

"Whatever it _would_ have been like we'll never know." Insisted Jetfire slowly, quietly eyeing the eerily silent spat and discipline between the Aerialbots. "I for one have too little time and too much to do to waste it on such useless hypothetical meanderings."

"Things aren't the _same_!" Slingshot yelled. "We _grew_ with Phage around! We were _thriving_! It's like everyone's forgotten what she's done for us! She's the one that suggested the charity events to Optimus to help our relations with the humans! She's the one that suggested Optimus play into the capitalist market to fund ourselves! She was human for all of that! Our Alicean! Always calling us her 'Bots... She was like a big sister. And-and...It _hurt_ seeing her trying to adjust to being Cybertronian." Admitted Slingshot slowly, deflating and losing gravitas in his voice. "And it _hurt_ watching her struggle and reject our help when we offered when the situation had been reverse for years. And then she was just _gone_. And _that_ was scary." He gestured lamely between his brothers and himself, " _We've_ been fighting the 'Cons for two decades and yeah we've taken our share of knocks but we always came back. Phage was Cybertronian for less than five years and then just...gone."

Jetfire held up his servos in a placating gesture and said softly, "I can see why you're upset, Slingshot."

"There's a void she left behind in the _Ark_. I feel like it's this tangible force. A missing energy."

"I know the feeling very well." Jetfire said gently.

Just when it seemed Slingshot was loosing steam, he tried to regain traction and blurted out angrily, "Everyone acts like it was nothing!"

"Nobody's saying that." Stated Jetfire calmly.

"Nobody's saying anything!" His voice cracked, hitting a high pitch and had to power through the lump forming in his vocal processor. "Hell! She got _Sunstreaker_ painting because she _convinced_ Optimus that community time was better than isolation in the brig-and everyone _loves_ the Hall of Reflection!"

"I find it rather sad to be honest." Perceptor interjected. "And depressing. I have caught myself subconsciously avoiding that portion of the **_Ark_**."

"Same." Agreed Jetfire, sipping from his glass of energon.

"I think Sunstreaker's work is incredible." Fireflight finally threw in to the discussion.

"Well, yes." Jetfire said carelessly, "It is an incredible piece. A masterwork, really."

"I think it was genius of him to incorporate LEDS." Gushed the dreamy-eyed Fireflight. "I feel like I'm really walking on a skylane above Iacon rather than just a hallway in the **_Ark_**. And the emotion in the piece is incredible."

"You mean pain?" Air Raid chipped in. "Loss? Sorrow? Emotional torment?"

"It's a piece about the cost of _war_ , you brute." Fireflight remarked irritably. "But I also feel like there's a message of hope in it."

"How?" Air Raid shot back. "Half the hallway is a pristine Iacon and the parallel is the city in ruin."

"See," said Fireflight, "is it an Iacon _before_ the war or _after_."

"Oh." Air Raid remarked flatly before his face lit up. " _Oh!_ "

"Slingshot." Pried Jetfire gently in an effort to turn the discussion back around. "Did you mention any of what you've told us to Ratchet?"

The Aerialbot's face in question took on a particular shade of blue. Before he could explode, Silverbolt smoothly interjected into the discussion. "I think we've gone way off topic. We came here so you could tell Slingshot that the space bridge accident Phage was involved in could have no way thrown her back through time to the Golden Age of Cybertron."

"Ah." Began Jetfire. "That again." He said, glancing between his glass of energon and the ceiling and to the Aerialbots again. "Yes. The thing is..." He decided to set his glass of energon on the table rather than continue to hold it aloft.

"Yes?" Prompted Silverbolt.

"Well, the thing _is,_ " Jetfire clicked his glossa, "I can't."

There was a long silence from the Aerialbots. The vorners were blinking, like new academy students had done back on Cybertron during lectures, and then the gawking started in and inevitably Silverbolt managed to spit out, " _What_?"

Perceptor, who was standing aside to himself, could no longer hold back his bubbling enthusiasm. "Quantum mechanics always leads into such fascinating conversations! Why, if we disregard Ratchet's credible medical claim that you either hallucinated Phage into existence or placed her image over Ariel-"

"I didn't hallucinate!"

"-then what remains is a scientific mystery!"

"How _exactly_ do you reckon she could be in Cyberton's past?" Asked Silverbolt hastily. "We got there through the Kronosphere!"

"And Phage was lost during a space bridge transit from Earth to Cybertron."

"And...?"

" _And_ we already said the Kronosphere is just modified Spacebridge technology."

The Aerialbots started badly and gawked as a high pitched squeal erupted from Perceptor's vocal processor as the millions-year old mech beamed and shook with anticipation like a human child in a candy store. Jetfire glanced wearily from the red Autobot to the Aerialbots and remarked, "You asked for this."

And then Perceptor's mouth fell open and he burst out saying, "Before we can answer Slingshot's hypothesis of, 'Is Phage alive during Cybertron's Golden Age,' we have to understand the basis of what spacebridging is. What _do_ you know about spacebridge technology?"

"They take us from A to B." Fireflight answered straightaway.

"They require an obscene amount of energon." Silverbolt said.

"Both correct and, sadly, about the extent of most mechs knowledge of spacebridge's. So!" Perceptor clapped his servos together eagerly. "From the top!"

" _Just_ the bullet points, Perceptor." Jetfire reminded the red mech and took another sip of his energon. Perceptor deflated only marginally but the real blow came when Jetfire added as an afterthought, "And keep the language simple."

"Oh. Oh _alright_. From the top!" Enthused Perceptor again. "Spacebridge technology was developed by a mech known as Spanner. He-err, yes Air Raid? Questions already?"

"Is there going to be a test?"

"Uh...err, no. Why-?"

"Then why do I have to know the name of the dead mech who came up with this stuff?"

Silverbolt's engine revved so loudly it echoed in the large chambers of the Science Labs. The Aerialbot leader whirled on Air Raid and what ensued was the oddest disciplinary action Perceptor and Jetfire had seen in a long while. Silverbolt jabbed a digit into Air Raid's chassis, denta flashing in a snarl, but said nothing.

: _:Another smartass remark like that and I will_ boot _you from the Labs myself! We're here for Slingshot, remember?:_

_:Yeah, yeah. Get off me.:_

Perceptor kept glancing uncertainly between the Aerialbots as he tentatively continued, then quickly regained his former gusto as no further interruptions occurred. "Spanner was attempting to revolutionize interstellar travel by the creation of controlled wormholes. He did not succeed in that, but his research lead to the discovery of Transwarp, and the fallout of his scientific breakthrough led to the creation of the spacebridges and subspace pockets. Modern scientific marvels that we all take for granted today. Actually," laughed Perceptor, "spacebridge's aren't straight paths at all! We just use the term 'bridging' because it branches from one destination to another, but in reality you are traveling time and space in a corkscrew fashion around a puncture of pure energy, and yes, that is why you find yourselves spinning when you travel through the bridge."

"Okay, wait. I thought transwarp was like...hyperspeed or something." Said Air Raid.

"Was like..." echoed Perceptor before shaking his cranium violently and spluttering, "Primus, _no!_ Transwarp is the space _between_ realities. Yes, I know!" Gushed Perceptor at the Aerialbot's shocked reactions. "Exciting right? Every time you use a spacebridge you are being _violently_ and _forcibly_ expelled from all of time and space as you know it, shunted into Transwarp and then dragged back into your appropriate universe, at the appropriate time safe and sound! Simply astounding achievements of science! And what a temperamental one at that! What I mean is-well, actually," false started Perceptor, paused and decided to just spill it all out, "Because the bridge is more a corkscrew drones and pilots and even _starships_ have lost course and gone missing. The most famous starship to disappear was the **_Axiom Nexus_** , a scientific exploration vessel during Spanner's time meant to examine Transwarp."

"How does a ship meant to explore Transwarp go missing?" Questioned Air Raid.

"It never came back." Jetfire explained. "Not even a single transmission. A cutting edge starship that had a near limitless budget- _gone_."

"Ouch."

"So what happens when things or persons get lost in Transwarp?" Asked Silverbolt slowly.

Perceptor beamed as he leapt back into his lecture. "It has been theorized what happens when this occurs, everything from the travelers falling into the wrong universe or even the wrong time period-"

"So I could have seen Phage!"

" _Theorized_." Perceptor stressed. "We don't know for sure, but given the nature of the bridge itself is breaching the fabric of our universe and entering a place beyond, removed from time and space, it is _theorized_ that voyagers falling off course end up in the wrong universe, or time, or even lost in Transwarp itself."

Stress lines formed on Silverbolt's forehead. "But then, _theoretically_ if that's what happened to Phage, then she's _not_ dead. She's just... _lost_."

Perceptor spread his servos with a shrug. "Sadly, we won't ever know for certain what happened to her. And I must be frank, lost in an alternate universe or the wrong timeline has been seen in the scientific community as a very romanticized viewpoint."

"What _scientific community_?" Slingshot snapped through flashing denta. " _Yours_?"

Perceptor and Jetfire glanced between each other and back to the Aerialbots. It was Perceptor who ascended carelessly, "I meant before. In Spanner's time, when the technology was developed. And well, yes, into the current modern scientific community...which is really Wheeljack, Jetfire and I, Nautica shows promise, Starscream and Shockwave. And I think I can safely say for all of us, Autobot and Decepticon scientists alike, that yes. Hoping that all who are lost due to a Spacebridge flicker are safe and functioning in an alternate universe or time period is a highly romanticized notion. Illogical, even."

"What was the other side?" Asked Silverbolt as Slingshot steamed and stewed.

Perceptor hung up for a second, then admitted bluntly, "Horrific termination. Really, even the concept of being lost in Transwarp is viewed as entering the Pitt itself." He mellowed and murmured, "I wouldn't wish Phage's fate on even a Decepticon."

A brief moment of silence persisted amongst the group at the news.

Eager to move away from the subject, Perceptor rushed to add excitedly, "It's rather amusing actually that all of us use Transwarp and so few of us actually realize that we're entering it at all! Fewer still have the notion that it even exists!"

"Perceptor." Jetfire chided gently. "A momemt of silence."

"Sorry."

Silverbolt was scrubbing at his face when he said, "On the point of our visit, Perceptor! When the space bridge blew up with Phage in transit to Cybertron I was under the impression that Phage was terminated. It's what Optimus told everyone! There was a funeral! And you're standing here telling me that she could be alive-"

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically," corrected Silverbolt, "Phage could be adrift in hell itself, or lost in an alternate universe or time period-which would give credence to what Slingshot claims he saw."

"Let's be honest with ourselves here," interjected Jetfire, "In any of those sentimentalized scenarios where Phage is alive she is _still_ lost to us forever."

"But _we_ came back through the Kronoshere!" Slingshot burst.

"It's my understanding it had a recall function." Said Jetfire simply. "If it hadn't I don't think Wheeljack could have pulled you back through. Can you imagine that for me for a nanoklik? Consider that you all narrowly avoided termination. If Phage somehow survived, it would not be for long on Cybertron during those turbulent eons."

As the Aerialbots struggled to process the information already impacted upon them Perceptor could not help but to keep rambling on. "See! This is why I find Slingshot's claim that he saw Phage so fascinating! Her fate has been a paradox for years! And Slingshot could have just stolen a peak at the answer! Or not, situation depending. And what I've covered is just three idealized outcomes of many possibilities! The hard truth of what likely occurred to her would depend on _where_ she was during transit. If she was _just_ launched through the bridge when it flickered and, well, inevitably exploded as we know, and did not reach Transwarp, then it is safe to assume that Phage would have been atomically ripped apart. If you could just imagine crashing at terminal velocity into the ground-"

"Stop!" Cringed Silverbolt.

"Right. Well, that would be scenario one. Phage would have essentially hit the borders of our universe and...yes. Well. What I mentioned."

"And?" Said Silverbolt apprehensively. "If she made it pass...?"

"Into Transwarp?" Pressed Perceptor. "That's the fate I wouldn't want on any Decepticon. Asides from records describing it as Pitt itself, all manner of horrific creatures dwell therein-"

"There are things that _live_ in Transwarp?!" Yelped Slingshot.

"Oh, Slingshot. Yes. Kremzeek's and energy slugs hail from Transwarp."

"Kremzeeks?!" Squeaked Skydive and Fireflight as the Aerialbot's shivered at the memory of the parasitic living energy creatures when they had infested the area, wrecking havoc on eletronics and feeding off of energy.

"What are energy slugs?" Air Raid dared to ask.

"Hm?" Jetfire murmured, seeming to come back around into the conversation from distant internal ponderings. "Oh, I forget that you were forged on Earth half the time. Energy slugs were nasty parasitic lifeforms that would slither between the crevices of your armor, worm their way through your systems and nestle on your spark chamber. They would then feast on its energies until you exterminated. They became an invasive species on Cybertron after Spanner brought them back from Transwarp."

The Aerialbots gaped between the two scientists.

"That wasn't the worse of what Spanner's exploits into Transwarp brought back to an unwitting and much younger Cybertron." Jetfire continued, "Why, the final chip was when Spanner's team retrieved some sort of ectoplasmic creature that fed off of the chemicals produced by the brain module. We know this because the creature ' _escaped_ ' confinement and latched onto one of the scientists on Spanner's team. It forced its host into stasis and then fed off of their chemical output. Needless to say, Spanner lost his funding."

"What. The. Fuck." Air Raid gaped.

"Why did you say escape with emphasis?" Stressed Fireflight.

For once, Jetfire's face twisted in disgust. "Because Spanner was amoral! His whole research into Transwarp was riddled with morally decrepit actions and unsafe security practices! He put all of Cybertron at risk with the energy slugs and kremzeek outbreak! We struggled through a pandemic! And after weaseling his way out of legal action, he went and lost the **_Axiom Nexus_** and, in desperation that his whole project would be shut down, brought back that wierd ectoplasmic- _wraith_ -creature to secure funding! He purposely put his own research team at risk to discover what it could do!"

The Aerialbots gaped at Jetfire's flare of passion and struggle to name the last entity. Silence gripped the group as Jetfire seperated himself to calm down, downing his energon and going to retrieve more. When he returned, the mech seemed much more level headed.

"So." Began Silverbolt.

"So." Echoed Jetfire.

"You're telling _us_ ," Silverbolt pressed sternly, "that Phage was either _atomically scattered_ to every corner of the universe-"

"Yes."

"Or is lost in Transwarp hell where she is _currently_ , or _was_ , being fed on by...cthulhuian-esque entities!"

"Cthulhulian entities?" Questioned Perceptor.

"Earth pop culture Perceptor. Just- _What the hell_!" Shouted Slingshot.

"Wait!" Interjected Air Raid yet again, "Can we catch these things traveling on the bridge?!"

To the Aerialbot's horror, both Jetfire and Perceptor demurred, began shuffling from pede to pede and false starting between themselves. Finally Jetfire murmured into his glass of energon, "Well, how do you think the Kremzeek got on Earth?"

"Oh my god!" Air Raid freaked. "I thought it was a safe mode of transportation! Erring sabotage!"

To the Aerialbots surprise, Perceptor flung his cranium back and barked out a short amused laugh. "Matrix, no! Not at all!"

"Why are we even _using_ it?!"

"Why? It's _fast_. _Instantaneous_. Can you imagine traveling through the galaxy in straight-space? Primus, it would take vorns to reach anywhere! The war probably would have gone on for double what it has! Besides, one couldn't be thrust through straight-space at such speeds! You would go splat into whatever planet or space junk you came across! Highly unsafe!"

"And ripped from our universe into Transwarp is better _how_?"

"Did you not hear the part where it was instantaneous travel?" Joked Perceptor with a smile.

_:I keep telling you!: rang Slingshot's thought across an open Send, :All of our elders are_ insane _!:_

"And well _we_ aren't using spacebridges, are we?" said Jetfire. "The Decepticons are. Optimus insists on straight-spacing everything on the dangers alone unless absolutely necessary."

"But you said earlier that the war would have gone on for longer than it has if we weren't using spacebridges!" Slingshot countered.

"Necessary." Jetfire shrugged carelessly. At the first sign that Slingshot was about to explode again, Jetfire hastily added, "Look, Slingshot. You straight-space to Central Station frequently. And until the groundbridge's creation we were driving or flying everywhere on Earth, weren't we? As I said, only when absolutely necessary do we use spacebridges. Cross my wires, but Optimus won't even have us build one. We seek out the nearest Decepticon bridge, don't we?"

"I don't see how that's suppose to be better! But what about _the obvious question here_." Pressed Slingshot. "What if Phage _was_ near the _end_ of the bridging? What if she had _left_ Transwarp and was _reentering_ our universe at the _intended_ destination. You know, Shockwave's tower on Cybertron?"

"Well," drawled Perceptor, "If the bridge destabilized at that point there _exists_ the possibility that she could have been deposited on Cybertron, at Shockwave's location, but at the wrong time."

"Or thrown in the wrong universe entirely."

Perceptor snapped his digits. "There is that. Or, again, suffered horrific termination."

All the Aerialbots found they could do was gape.

"So she could be alive..." Slingshot began enthusiastically, "In Cyberton's past. Just like I said!"

"Slingshot...this is all hypothetical talk." Said Jetfire as Perceptor nodded eagerly along.

"What is _wrong_ with you?!" Slingshot shouted. "A fellow Autobot could be in serious danger!"

"Calm down, Slingshot. The chances of anything other than termination are astronomical." Jetfire tried to sooth.

"People win the lottery all the time!"

"No." Deadpanned Jetfire. "No, they don't."

"Gods, did you tell Prime any of this when the incident happened?!"

"Of _course."_ Perceptor snipped, sounding offended. "And I also gave him the odds. Would you like to hear them?"

"No! This means I did see her in Cybertron's past!"

Jetfire's optical ridge quirked up high. "Or you're grieving and imaged her. Or saw Ariel, like Ratchet suggested."

Slingshot's servos shook as he gesticulated. "This is just speculation! We need to prove it once and for all! Just send a drone back or something!"

"Slingshot, we don't _have_ a Kronosphere." Said Jetfire.

"It's just spacebridge technology!"

"And I have no idea how the Decepticon's built their's! We would have to reconstruct another one based on the destroyed one you found on Cybertron. That alone could take years! And that's assuming the Decepticon's didn't return to sweep the area clean!"

Slingshot ran his servos over his helm, optics wide behind his visor and stressing badly. "But she was in the midst of the siege on Iacon!"

"Nine million years ago." Jetfire eyed his shaking servos. "Look this has been an interesting discussion, but I have work to do and I think you should see Ratchet, Slingshot. Foregoing that, get some rest. You 'bots have been through a lot in the last few days."

"But-!"

_:Come on, Slingshot.:_ Came Silverbolt's collected thought and a gentle nudge. _:This wasn't the reassurance I was hoping for.:_ Slingshot spluttered, struggling with the information just dumped on them and finally, begrudging, relented and followed his brothers out. "Thank you for your time." Said Silverbolt politely, ushering each of his brother's out of the labs one by one. "For-uh, what it was worth."

Still beaming, Perceptor chirped after them, "Anytime!"

Jetfire just gave them a friendly wave as he finished his glass, but Silverbolt had the distant feeling that Jetfire's old optics didn't leave them until the Science Labs doors slide shut behind them.

The Aerialbots had not gone four feet when Air Raid slung his arm around Slingshot and dragged him close. "There's a few ways I know how to feel better."

"Oh gawd." Groaned Fireflight, rolling his optics skywards. "Here it comes."

Air Raid snapped his digits. "That's right. Bar time. Let's hit up the Rec Room and raid us some engex. Take your mind off of things."

"I don't-"

"You don't get a say in the matter." Air Raid cut in, interrupting his brother as he dragged him along.

* * *

**Location: Ark Command**

**Time: Present**

Into the quiet of the command center, Optimus vented loudly, rubbed his optics wearily and stood up from Teletraan-One's controls. Prowl started at the uncharacteristic noise. The white mech shifted in his chair, catching Prime's optic as the Autobot Commander climbed to his full height.

"Something the matter?" Asked Prowl with tactful neutrality.

"Just a little message from Jetfire." Prowl waited for further detail but Prime hesitated, optics drifting towards one of the exits. "I'm heading out for some recon. A change of scenery might help put this Kronosphere matter in a new light."

One of Prowl's optical ridges perched high on his forehead, nearly threatening to disappear under his helm. "By yourself?"

"Yes."

"Hoping to track down some 'Cons for some information."

"If I get lucky."

"Tch." A trace of a smile touched Prowl's lips before fading. "I almost feel bad for the Decepticon that crosses you. ...You _know_ the groundbridge is the other way."

"I'm driving." Clipped Prime tersely before transforming and driving off.

Prowl rolled his optics, muttering to himself as he turned back to the intel he had been helping Optimus to scour through for two Earth days. "No driving in the halls. First rule around here and _nobody_ bothers with it."

For a moment Prowl hesitated, contemplating, then his digits were a flurry as they tapped away at Teletraan's control panel. Before long a live feed streamed across the nearest of Teletraan's screens providing him with aerial surveillance of Optimus Prime from one of the many Sky Spys.

Peace of mind, Prowl thought to himself. Just in case, he added as he tried to get back to cracking what the Decepticons were doing and where. There was a lot of ground to cover between Earth and Cybertron and not enough patrols to cover all that ground, human eyes included. Except, Prowl couldn't focus on the task at hand. His optics kept drifting over to the vid of Prime. By the thirteenth time, Prowl gave in to his gut instinct and jumped on the personal comm-links.

"Prowl to Ratchet. I require some assistance. Are you available?"

" _My_ assistance?" Came Ratchet's sarcastic reply over the line. "Whatever with? I swear, it's not the Twins is it? I will personally turn them into toasters-"

"It's not the Twins this time, Ratchet." Prowl cut in, leaning back in his chair.

"Has Huffer had an accident in the Forge then?"

"No. I-"

"Oh Primus, don't tell me the Dinobots wrecked Teletraan _again!"_

"No." Snipped Prowl firmly.

There was a bout of radio silence from Ratchet's end. Just as Prowl was worrying that the comm-line had cut out or Ratchet had hung up in irritation for what he could have perceived as a waste of his time, the Chief Medical Officer asked with a frustrated sigh, "...Did Wheeljack blow himself up again?"

"No!" Prowl snapped curtly. "It's Optimus, Ratchet."

"Nothing life threatening, obviously." Grumbled Ratchet. "Or else you wouldn't be wasting my time with a guessing game. What's the problem that you comm'ed me?"

Prowl decided not to mention that he hadn't asked Ratchet to guess and pressed on into the matter as he lent forward in the chair, resting his elbow on the armrest and dropping his cranium into his servo. Immediately he began pinching the bridge of his olfactory. "He seemed like he was wound up tight. You'd think the volcano was going to blow with how quickly he departed."

"He left by himself?"

"Affirmative. To do patrol, he said." Prowl fiddled with the view on the Sky Spy. "Looks to me like he's taking a scenic route." A series of frustrated mutterings poured over the line from Ratchet. Prowl continued only when there was a lull. "I think he needs an audio."

"He _needs_ a lot of things. But does he ever listen when its for his own good?" Snapped off Ratchet severely before he could think twice. Once he realized he was starting off on a tangent Prowl heard the medic suck in a noisy breath and vent it out slowly. "Look. Just- _how_ long has he been gone?"

"Nearly two breems."

"Pitt. Fine. _Fine_! I'll try and catch up with him. Maybe I can get him to talk."

Prowl snorted. "Good luck with that. Decepticons have tried and failed for eons."

"I always manage."

"Not sure how."

"Bad form Prowl, trying to get me to divulge such secret sensitive skills over an unprotected comm-line."

The corner of Prowls mouth quirked, threatening to break into a grin. "Never dreamt of doing so."

"Well, don't worry so much about Optimus. I'm heading out."

"I can always count on you, Ratchet."


End file.
